IndusParquet welcomes dealers into its home - Trips to Brazil give first-hand look at production

IndusParquet is offering a personal tour of its facilities in Brazil to select dealers four times a year. Not only do participants get a behind-the-scenes look into where their products are coming from and how they are made, but they are given the opportunity to absorb the country’s cuisine, culture and hospitality as well.

According to Flavia Baggio, chief operating officer at IndusParquet, instead of trying to explain exactly what sets the company apart, this trip allows the company to bring their dealers to the mills and actually show them what IndusParquet is all about.

“In the mills themselves, you see the extra steps we take with the technical part of our products and how we work to improve it,” said Baggio. “They can see that our mills are the same level of quality as in the United States.”

One of the extra steps that IndusParquet is able to show attendees is a process the company refers to as “Breath.” In its lumberyard of approximately 20 million square feet in Tiete, Brazil, IndusParquet allows its lumber to naturally air dry for about six months before it is kiln dried and produced for market. According to Baggio, this process improves the wood’s stability and durability which give it a better level of performance.

The company also takes clients to see its engineered wood plant in Curitiba, Brazil. “Unlike many of our competitors who use multiple layers of pine, which is a very soft wood, we use hardwood all the way through our engineered products. This provides extra conditioning to the flooring,” she said.

The trip then continues to Paraguay to see IndusParquet’s other solid wood facility, belonging to a partnering mill that provides several diverse species of wood to the company’s repertoire. “At this mill, it is easy to see the hard work that goes into producing our flooring. The procedures are very labor intensive,” said Baggio.

Rosana Chaidez, vice president of sales, marketing and procurement at Haines, was given the opportunity to attend the most recent trip to Brazil with several co-workers and customers. According to Chaidez, the cultural aspects of this trip provided a different experience than other mill trips.

“Even though there was a language barrier sometimes, there were translators throughout the mill tours and everyone in Brazil made an effort to speak English. By the end of the trip, the language barrier became unimportant because they treated everyone like family. Their kindness became a universal language.”

To IndusParquet, this personal bond is an important aspect of sustaining relationships with its clients. By nurturing this relationship, Baggio said, the dealers can see and feel IndusParquet’s competitive advantages. On top of taking attendees on tours throughout its plants and facilities, the company also takes them sightseeing to Iguazu Falls and on an optional trip to Rio de Janeiro.

“They appreciate seeing the culture of our company. It helps us show them how Made in Brazil is a different kind of quality than Made in China,” said Baggio. “They might think we are a small mill, but we get to show them what we can do for them, how we can work with more species, and how we have the ability to do big personalized jobs.”

While distributors pay for flights to and from Brazil, IndusParquet covers the cost of all domestic expenses from meals and hotels to internal travel. The company said this is key to continue strengthening relationships and creating a broader selling experience for its customers.

“We can see the growth in sales already since after the trip,” Baggio said. “It really gets people committed to us because they appreciate what we are doing, and by building that personal connection, they are able to sell our products with more passion.”

Chaidez agreed that the trip is not only valuable from a product training standpoint, but in getting to know the culture of the country and the company. “Relationship selling enhances the overall experience in presenting a product. The benefit of the mill trip to Brazil is that customers will sell the IndusParquet products with more passion because they can speak to its culture and heritage,” she said.

IndusParquet’s next trip to Brazil is in October with 12 people from Haines, including key dealers and Haines employees on board.